The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is a fantasy film in Eastmancolor and Dynarama released in 1973 and starring John Phillip Law as Sinbad. It includes a score by composer Miklós Rózsa and is known mostly for the stop motion effects by Ray Harryhausen. The film is the second of three Sinbad films that Harryhausen made for Columbia, the others being The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). It won the first Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film. Plot While sailing, Sinbad (John Phillip Law) comes across a golden tablet dropped by a mysterious flying creature. He wears the tablet as an amulet around his neck. That same night, Sinbad dreams about a man dressed in black, repeatedly calling Sinbad's name, as well as a beautiful girl with an eye tattooed on the palm of her right hand. A sudden storm throws the ship off course, and the next day Sinbad and his men find themselves near a coastal town in the country of Marabia. Swimming to the beach, Sinbad encounters a man demands that he turn over the amulet. Sinbad narrowly escapes into the city, where he meets the Grand Vizier of Marabia (Douglas Wilmer). The Vizier, who wears a golden mask to hide his disfigured face, explains that Sinbad's amulet is but one piece of a puzzle, of which the Vizier has another. The Vizier relates to Sinbad a legend, which claims that the three pieces, when joined together, will reveal a map showing the way to the fabled Fountain of Destiny, hidden on the lost continent of Lemuria. He who takes the three pieces to the Fountain will receive "youth, a shield of darkness, and a crown of untold riches." Sinbad agrees to help the Vizier in his quest for the Fountain, and they join forces against the evil Prince Koura (Tom Baker), the man from Sinbad's dream, a magician bent on using the Fountain's gifts to conquer Marabia. Koura had previously locked the Vizier in a room and set it on fire, resulting in the maiming of the Vizier's face. The creature that dropped the gold tablet was one of Koura's minions, a homunculus created by his black magic. Koura uses the creature to spy on Sinbad and the Vizier and learn of their plans. Shortly afterward, Sinbad meets the woman he saw in his dream, a slave named Margiana (Caroline Munro). Her master hires Sinbad to make a man of his lazy, no-good son, Haroun (Kurt Christian). Sinbad agrees on the condition that Margiana comes along. Koura hires a ship and a crew of his own and follows Sinbad, using his magic several times to try to stop Sinbad. However, each attempt drains away a part of his life-force, and he ages noticeably each time. On his journey, Sinbad encounters numerous perils, including a wooden siren figurehead on his own ship, animated by Koura's black magic, which manages to steal the map, enabling Koura to locate Lemuria. The wizard uses another homunculus to overhear the Oracle of All Knowledge (an uncredited Robert Shaw) describe to Sinbad what he will face in his search for the Fountain. Koura seals the men inside the Oracle's cave, but Sinbad uses a rope to get everyone out. Haroun manages to destroy the homunculus as it attacks Sinbad. After he is captured by hostile natives, Koura animates a six-armed Kali idol, causing the worshipful natives to set him free. Sinbad and his men arrive soon after. They fight and defeat Kali, and find the final fragment of the puzzle within Kali's remains; but the natives capture Sinbad and his crew and prepare to sacrifice Margiana to a one-eyed centaur, the Fountain's Guardian of Evil. Sinbad and the others escape after the Vizier terrifies the natives into fleeing by removing his mask to reveal his charred face. After rescuing Margiana, they finally reach the Fountain of Destiny. They watch as the centaur fights the Guardian of Good, a griffin. With Koura's aid, the centaur prevails, only for Sinbad to stab and kill it. However, this gives Koura the opportunity to seize all three pieces of the puzzle. He drops two of them into the Fountain; the first restores his youth, while the second turns him invisible (the "shield of darkness"). Before he can claim the "crown of untold riches", however, Sinbad slays Koura in a sword duel. A jewel-encrusted crown then rises from the depths of the Fountain, which Sinbad gives to the Grand Vizier. The crown's magical properties cause the Vizier's mask to dissolve, revealing a restored, unscarred face. Their quest completed, Sinbad and his crew journey back to Marabia. Cast * John Phillip Law as Sinbad, the main protagonist * Tom Baker as Prince Koura, the main antagonist of the film. (Christopher Lee was a front-runner to play Koura.) Baker's performance helped him get the lead role of the Fourth Doctor in the TV series Doctor Who, because the show's producer, Barry Letts, was impressed with his performance''Doctor Who the Handbook: The Fourth Doctor'' Doctor Who Books, 1992, pg 43. * Takis Emmanuel as Achmed. (Emmanuel was dubbed by Robert Rietti.) * Caroline Munro as Margiana. (Munro was well known at the time for being featured in advertisements for Lamb's Navy Rum) * Douglas Wilmer as The Vizier * Grégoire Aslan as Hakim (as Gregoire Aslan) * David Garfield as Abdul (as John D. Garfield) * Kurt Christian as Haroun * Martin Shaw as Rachid * Aldo Sambrell as Omar * Robert Shaw as the Oracle of All Knowledge (uncredited) Production Producers Charles Schneer and Ray Harryhausen based their production in Spain (Madrid as well as the island of Majorca) to take advantage of the local rugged scenery. At one point the possibility of filming some scenes at the landmark Alhambra palace in Granada was raised; however, rental fees demanded by local authorities proved prohibitive. Eventually the company was able to film at the Royal Palace of La Almudaina. Other scenes were done in the Caves of Artà (the temple of the Oracle) and the Torrent de Pareis An early charcoal/pencil illustration showed the one-eyed centaur battling a giant Neanderthal-like creature, who was later ultimately replaced by a griffin in the final version. The idea of the Neanderthal was later featured in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). Transcript view transcript Category:Films Category:Blog posts Category:Location Category:Gwangipedia Category:Cephalopod